Application modernization, digitization or rationalization… Chances are, numerous providers have talked to you about it, rather extensively. But what many of them might not be uttering is that the path towards application modernization is not a straightforward one. As a result of avoiding that difficult conversation, what organizations like yours often end up with, is merely getting some on-premise systems or workloads replaced with an IaaS variant on Azure.
So let’s talk about it.
What we described just above is called “moving your services to another datacenter.” It’s what many organizations have done in the past few years. And it’s – much more often than not – a step in the right direction. But now, let’s make actual application modernization more tangible. Here is how you do it.
A couple of quick checks should get you started on your path. Probably, each and every application uses one of the following resources:
If you can outline your applications and look at valid PaaS or serverless alternatives, you already have a head start in our transformation journey.
A feasibility check is usually performed to verify whether we can introduce any quick wins. For example, can you leverage native PaaS database solutions like Azure SQL, MongoDB, CosmosDB or any other database resource. At first, it might look like none of these services covers all your requirements, but a combination of services and event or data driven services does.
Looking at storage, here are a few questions you might want to ask yourself:
Mentioned above, are just a few simple examples on how to start decomposing your application landscape. Nevertheless, application modernization should be an integral part of your bigger Cloud Strategy. Reviewing design decisions in a broader scope might help to optimize resource usage and save you a lot of money in the long run.
Demystifying your applications shouldn’t be a struggle. However, it does however require you and your IT integrator to invest a necessary amount of time. We deeply believe that building a bridge between our DevOps team and our customers’ application team is beneficial for the future architecture and roadmap of any application.
Try to start small. For instance, with an application that can provide you with instant gratification by introducing Cloud native services.
That said, application modernization doesn’t have to be a Cloud native thing! Thanks to the investments made in Azure Arc by Microsoft we are now able to use a couple of Cloud services in our own datacenters without having to re-equip our infrastructure with Azure Stack.
We’d be happy to look into your organization’s specific situation and help you start getting a clear view on things. We can do so thanks to our Cloud Lighthouse offering. Check it out and get in touch!
